Now Accepting Submissions

This year’s competition will focus on the tectonic shift in the law governing the Administrative State as a result of the Supreme Court’s decisions in Loper Bright/Relentless, Jarkesy, and Corner Post. What questions do these decisions leave unanswered? How far do they go?  What strategies will agencies pursue in response? How will Congress react?  How should it?
 
For example, Chevron deference is dead as a result of Loper Bright/Relentless, but what about the other varieties of judicial deference, such as Brand X, City of Arlington, and Baltimore Gas?  Is Skidmore a form of deference, respect, or something else?
 
How will agencies change their approach to administrative adjudication in light of the ruling in Jarkesy?  Can juries be empaneled at agencies, even though Jarkesy appears to recognize a right to an Article III tribunal?  What kinds of cases can still be brought in front of ALJs.  Does Jarkesy mean that every case involving civil penalties requires a jury?  Are any agencies exempt from Jarkesy’s ruling, or how widely does it apply?  What does “all cases other than equity and admiralty” encompass?
 
Can a new entity be formed just to challenge a rule under Corner Post?  Do new trade associations have standing, or only if at least one member is too new to have challenged the rule?  What other restrictions, if any, are courts likely to read into the APA’s statute of limitations?
 
Are any other textual restrictions in the APA being ignored that should be resurrected post-Loper Bright and Corner Post?
 
These are but a few possible avenues for exploring the impact of the most consequential Supreme Court term for the Administrative State in decades. Submissions are encouraged to engage these and similar questions.

Is There a Prize?

Yes! The winning submission will earn a $10,000 prize, which will be shared equally between the student who authored the note and the journal that selected it for publication. If NCLA receives a sufficient number of qualified entries, second and third-place prizes will also be awarded in the amount of $5,000 and $2,500, respectively, to be split equally between the author and the journal that selected the note for publication.

Who Is Eligible?

NCLA will accept only notes, comments, or articles written by a J.D. or LL.M. candidate at an accredited law school in the United States and selected for publication (but not yet published as of June 1, 2024) by a law review or similar journal at an accredited law school in the United States. Actual publication of the note, comment, or article will be a condition of receiving the prize funds.

What Is a Student Note?

Although the specifics vary from journal to journal, student notes are generally 15,000 words or fewer, and comprise original, in-depth analysis and commentary on a legal or policy issue. The competition is also open to comments or articles written by students and published in law journal, even if they are not technically a note (i.e., we are just using the word “note” as a catch-all term).

How Do I Enter?

The submission deadline is May 1, 2025. NCLA is accepting all notes/comments approved for publication by May 1, 2025.  The publication date must be fixed at the time publication is approved in order for the note/comment to qualify. It would be ideal if the publication date came before December 31, 2025, but as a former editors of a law journals, we know how circumstances often work to complicate publication dates.

To enter, simply fill out the form to the right and submit the necessary documents.